FYNBOS
‘Cape Floristic Region’, ‘Cape Floral Kingdom’, ‘The Hottest Hotspot’…these are just some of the names that you might have heard this incredible part of the world called. So to begin with I believe that we need a bit of clarity. To be called a biodiversity hotspot an area must have a significant concentration of endemic biodiversity but have already lost over 70% of its original habitat. There are 36 of these hotspots in the world, a handful of which are found in South Africa. One of these hotspots is the Cape Floral Kingdom (aka the Cape Floristic Region). There are 6 floral kingdoms in the world including the Antarctic, Boreal, Neotropical and Cape regions. The Cape Floral Kingdom is the smallest of the kingdoms and is the only one to be located entirely within a single country. This kingdom covers less than 6% of South Africa but contains one third of all its plant species. That’s over 9000 species! Containing 3% of the world’s plants, this area contains greater species diversity than that of the Amazon Rainforest. On top of this, 69% of the species found here are endemic. This is why the Cape Floral Kingdom is known as the hottest hotspot. It has the highest concentration of plant species anywhere in the world. The Cape Floristic Region includes the biomes of the Fynbos, Renosterveld and Afromontane Forest. The Fynbos region, meaning ‘fine bush’ in Afrikaans, makes up 80% of the Cape Floristic Region.
Now, to get to the nitty gritty. People go crazy for the Fynbos, but to the un-introduced its pretty uninspiring. Loads of little shrubby plants, scratching your legs as you walk past. Sure, the flowers produced are beautiful, but it wouldn’t be out of place in Scotland…if the weather was nicer. And that’s exactly right, the Fynbos can essentially be considered as a heathland. However, the incredible biodiversity of the Fynbos is due to a key difference between other heathland regions and this one - the lack of climatic catastrophes. This sounds dramatic, but think about it. All the heathland areas that we can think of have tough climatic conditions and nutrient poor soils. Most places in northern Europe were covered by glaciers in the last ice age which removed all trace of plants forcing the landscape to start again in an ecological process called primary succession. That’s where the Cape is different. There were never any glaciers here, so for the last 2 million years, all these plants have been slowly working themselves into ever increasingly intricate niches and micro-environments. This has created incredible diversity and endemism in both the plants themselves and their interactions with pollinators.
Another key feature in these environments is fire, which is essential to the life cycle of these plants. Fire is required to open up seed heads and it can trigger bulbs to grow. However, while fire is essential, if unmanaged, it is also a serious threat. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only threat that the Fynbos is currently facing. Similar to many environments, these threats are in the form of climate change, urban development and over tourism. However, two key threats to these environments are invasive species and disrupted fire regimes. Interestingly, these threats are closely linked.
Invasive species, such as pines and eucalyptus, have no natural predators or competition in these environments so they grow rapidly, over taking the small shrubby plants of the Fynbos. But these trees are also extremely thirsty. In fact, of the 80% of rainwater that fills the dams in the region that we have the Fynbos to thank for, 70% of this would disappear if we replaced the Fynbos with alien tree species. Read that again and let it sink in. This thirsty nature, along with the natural oils found in invasive tree species, means that traditional Fynbos fires, which are just hot enough to remove leaf litter and open up seed cones, now become raging infernos which incinerate all plants. More frequent fires, which many have linked to climate change, disrupts the 15 year growing cycle of the Fynbos species.
IT REFERS NOT TO ONE BUT TO ALL THE PLANTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH AFRICA’S CAPE REGION. ITS LIKE SAYING ‘TROPICAL FOREST’ OR ‘SAVANNAH’
The Fynbos Guy, 2017
In fact, studies have shown that climate change could lead to a loss of two thirds of the Fynbos region. Within the Fynbos alone there are 4 main types of plant: Proteas, Ericas, Restios and Geophytes. But its not just the plants. If I’ve managed to convince you of anything here at Thatch and Earth, I hope its that biodiversity conservation can only take place in systems where every aspect is considered equally. No animal, no matter how Big 5 ish or beautiful, survives on its own. Everything, even humans when we think about ecosystem services, is dependent on other species for its survival. And there are a number of animal species which are entirely dependent on the Fynbos for their survival, including the Cape Sugarbird, Orange Breasted Sunbird, Geometric Tortoise and the Table Mountain Ghost Frog. We lose the Fynbos and all these species go with it.
Even with all these threats, its really important to recognise, just quite how little of this area is actually protected. At its maximum, only 20% of this area is under some sort of conservation protection. An issue which could lead to the loss of some incredibly unique biodiversity. But the nature of the Fynbos means that it does not link in well with the usual conservation management practices, particularly that of controlled burning. The Fynbos is considered to be an example of living ecological and evolutionary change and it is of great importance that it is protected and conserved before we lose it.
The Fynbos is a wonderful example of biodiversity and to lose such concentrated diversity would be a great loss to humans, environments and ecology as a whole. There are a number of ways to protect these environments but I believe that a key one is tourist education. Cape Town city centre, a key stop of most tourist’s route through southern Africa, is surrounded by Fynbos. But most tourists don’t even give a second glance to the small shrubby plants on the route up Lion’s Head. Through educating visitors we can not only create Fynbos champions around the world, but we can create jobs for those who live in and around the Fynbos. We have the opportunity to ensure that local people protect the Fynbos for their own economic well-being, while indirectly protecting a fascinating and utterly unique biome for years to come.